Who says finance pros don’t have a sense of humor?

We’re pleased to report that the RoseRyan Finance Pro Personality Quiz is an unqualified success. We sent the quiz—a tongue-in-cheek assessment—as our New Year’s gift to clients, partners and others on January 4. Lots of people have taken it, and they’re not only getting insight into their true finance personality, they’re laughing. Out loud. What could be a better way to start 2011?

In the first three days, the quiz increased traffic to our website by 400 percent over the average. The e-mail announcing the quiz is our most popular ever. (But then, most of our other e-mails alert recipients to our Intelligence reports, like the page-turners “Rev Rec’s Apples and Oranges” and “Make a Match Made in Heaven,” an M&A guide. We think these are fun too, but we are geeks.)

The quiz has taken hold with folks from FEI, Digital CFO and the Finance Leaders Association—organizations we love and belong to, but they’re not known for their stand-up routines. “I love this!! Who says financial people don’t have a sense of humor!!” was one of the many unsolicited responses we received. Another: “Whoa!!! Everyone needs to take this quiz—it’s great fun with incredible insight into ‘you’!”

Long way to say, if you haven’t taken the quiz yet, you still can. Just go here. If you like it, let your friends know.

/by

New York Times’ flextime article is heartening

It was heartening to see the January 8 New York Times article, “Flex Time Flourishes in Accounting Industry.” Work/life balance in the finance field is at the core of RoseRyan: When I co-founded the firm in 1993, I was looking to get off the 60- to 65-hour-a-week treadmill myself (which ironically didn’t happen for me personally, but it’s a main feature of the firm for our gurus). We truly “walk the talk” on this issue. We instituted flextime in 1996 and at last count 35 percent of our workforce was taking advantage of it.

I’m certain that’s why are able to attract and retain top-shelf finance talent. Generally speaking, we find that seasoned professionals seek sustainable work weeks, and they see this gift of time as a remarkable perk. (I also wrote on this very topic in a different post in response to a recent article in CFO Magazine that lamented the perils of flextime for CFOs.)

/by